Return to Castle Greyhawk

Old-school feel, Pathfinder rules

The Dungeon

Centuries past, when Greyhawk City was still a burgeoning riverbank trading post, Xagyg was already a powerful magician. His adventurous exploits had taken him the length and breadth of the Oerth and beyond-his command of magic had grown to heroic proportions. Xagyg built for himself an enormous castle complex north of young Greyhawk. He used it to conduct his experiments, to build his personal guard of soldiers, and to store the treasures of his career.

However, after just a century of occupation, the castle was mysteriously abandoned. Since then, the upper towers have crumbled and fallen, the grounds have succumbed to the erosion of time. What remains are the extensive underground mazes, overrun by monstrous evil creatures carefully guarding the legacy of the ruins of Castle Greyhawk.

In its prime, Castle Greyhawk consisted of three main towers. They have fallen into rubble, but the corresponding dungeon levels beneath them still exist. Though below ground, they are still referred to as the Tower of War, the Tower of Magic, and the Tower of Xagyg.

Greyhawk Ruins are the remains of Castle Greyhawk built by Xagyg Yragerne, The Mad Archmage (now the demigod Zagyg) around 320 CY. When the timeless Xagyg vanished after years of rule over the City of Greyhawk, the castle was likewise abandoned, and rumors tell of a terrible curse placed upon the fortress.

The ruins rest upon three rock pinnacles with each supporting a tower. The two smaller towers were once the Tower of War and the Tower of Magic (which is now more popularly called the Tower of Power). The main tower is called the Tower of Xagyg and is equipped with an outer wall. Both lesser towers are connected to the Tower of Xagyg via a natural stone archway. Likewise, The Tower of Xagyg has a stone archway connecting it to a nearby cliff top. The three pinnacles have sheer slopes and ledges raising some 75 to 100 feet above the valley floor.

At first none dared approach the castle for fear of the curse, but eventually adventure lust overtook a band of wandering barbarians from the north who entered the castle and returned with great wealth in gold and magical items. This attracted the attention of local dwarves and elves respectfully. After heavy losses in the depths of the ruins, these groups both decided to set up a “taxation” on all wealth plundered from “their” towers. This process has been going on for several years now and is still in operation. The dwarves guard the entrance to the old Tower of War, and the elves guard the Tower of Power. The mysterious Tower of Xagyg is guarded by reputation alone, entered by few, and none return.

The upper stories of all three towers are in mass ruin and are structurally unsafe for exploration. However, the passages and catacombs below these towers have a near endless supply of adventure!

The Skinny

This campaign is a delve into the mysterious ruin of Castle Greyhawk, published for the 2nd Edition of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game in 1990 as Greyhawk Ruins, written by Blake Mobley and Timothy Brown. The campaign is set loosely in the Greyhawk campaign setting, but the GM reserves the right to ad-lib the city and anything else that exists outside of the dungeon.

The Rules

This campaign will use the Pathfinder RPG ruleset, published for the d20 system under the Open Gaming License v1.0a. All relevant rules can be found on the d20 Pathfinder SRD. Any rules changes and modification printed on this site are open gaming content and released under the OGL v1.0. All conversions from the original adventure to Pathfinder were done by the GM.

Some materials from D&D v3.5 that have not yet been converted to Pathfinder may be allowed on a book by book basis. Please consult the GM if there is a particular source you would like added…understand that the likelihood that he will say yes is rather low.